The Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative kickoff week culminated at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. I asked these state leaders to join me in promoting local and regional food systems. I shared with them a video clip of my conversation with Dave Lane, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture in the Green Mountain State (Vermont). I asked Dave for his insights as to how state governments can help. Watch the video here:

You should know that I’ll be doing a lot of interviewing over the next few months. Why? Because there is great expertise out there in the grassroots and because we would be foolish to think that this is only one way to operationalize and support local agriculture. Don’t expect dictates from Washington, DC. Rather, I want to learn from people across the country and engage folk in conversation about American agriculture. Now, more than ever, people are interested in where their food comes from and how it has been produced.